BROUK Welcomes UNGA Resolution on Burma

On 24 December 2012 the United Nations General Assembly expressed serious concern over violence between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Burma (Myanmar) and called upon the Government to address reports of human rights abuses by the authorities.

The 193-nation General Assembly approved by consensus a non-binding resolution, which Burma said last month contained a “litany of sweeping allegations, accuracies of which have yet to be verified.”

The UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the resolution “expressing particular concern about the situation of the Rohingya minority in Rakhine state, urges the government to take action to bring about an improvement in their situation and to protect all their human rights, including their right to a nationality.”

The Burmese Government continues to refuse to recognize the Rohingya in breach of international law. The Government stated: “There has been no such ethnic group as Rohingya among the ethnic groups of Burma Despite this fact, the right to citizenship for any member or community has been and will never be denied if they are in line with the law of the land.”

By continuing to persecute the Rohingya community in Burma and by refusing to afford basic rights to the Rohingya community the Burmese Government has demonstrated a refusal to adhere to international norms.

BROUK President Tun Khin said: “We welcome the resolution that seeks to address the outbreak of violence on members of the Rohingya community in Burma and consider that this must be the first step in ensuring justice and accountability in Burma. But it has been more than 6 months thus far, there is no safety or security and the Rohingya continue to face the blocking of aid resulting in the spread of illness and disease. We urgently seek the deployment of UN Peacekeeping Forces and International Observers in Arakan to protect the Rohingya. Furthermore, we urge Member States of the United Nations Human Rights Council to place Burma on the agenda during the March session in Geneva with a view to adopting a resolution to establish an Independent Commission of Inquiry as a matter of priority.”

Despite international outcries the Burmese government is seeking to use the oppressive legislation in the form of The Burma Citizenship Law of 1982 on the homeless Rohingya people whilst most of their documentation was destroyed during a spate of violence in the region. This serves as further intention of the Government to deceive the international community.

BROUK calls upon the organs of the United Nations, following the adoption of the resolution, to bring an end to the campaign of ethnic cleansing on the ethnic Rohingyas and Kaman Muslim community in Arakan.

BROUK calls upon the Office of the High Commissioner to recognize that the ongoing persecution of members of the Rohingya community is part of a widespread or systematic attack on the civilian population as part of a State or Organizational Policy and therefore constitutes a crime against humanity as defined under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

For more information please contact Tun Khin +44 7888 714 866 

Ahamed Jarmal

General Secretary
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK)
London